| Students who maintain
a minimum overall GPA of 3.25 and a minimum GPA of 3.5 for
courses in the major will earn Departmental Honors by the
satisfactory completion of the following curriculum in addition
to completion of other requirements for a Bachelor's Degree
in Biological Sciences.
The Honors Curriculum consists of nine credits
- BIOL 499H: Honors Independent Research – 2 semesters
(a minimum total of 6 credits)
- BIOL 497H: Honors Thesis and Capstone Course – 1
semester (3 credits, graded)
Eligibility
Biological Sciences majors who have completed the following
requirements will be eligible to enter the Departmental
Honors Program. The following courses, or acceptable transfer
equivalents thereof, will have been completed with a cumulative
GPA of 3.5: : BIOL 141, BIOL 142, BIOL 302, BIOL 303, BIOL 300L, CHEM 101, CHEM 102, CHEM 102L, CHEM 351, CHEM 351L, MATH 151 (or MATH 155 for BA degrees), AND STAT 350. In addition, the student
must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 in the major, and 3.25
overall.
Two semesters of BIOL 499H
Two semesters of undergraduate research provides exposure
to problem solving, planning, and executing experiments
directed toward the research goals of a faculty mentor.
An honors student will complete a minimum of 6 credits
of undergraduate research, which is equivalent to two semesters
of laboratory work averaging 12 hours per week.
Honors Thesis and Capstone Course, BIOL 497H
The Capstone of the Biology Honors Program will be a course
introducing each honors student to the various ways in
which scientists present their work to the scientific world
and to the diversity of research areas presented in departmental
seminars. To further develop their written skills, each
student will be expected to write short abstracts of a
limited number of these seminars. (See catalog for details.)
The culmination of the research project will be a thesis
to be written in the form of a research journal article.
Each student will be assigned to one member of the Honors
Committee who, along with the research mentor, will provide
guidance and advice regarding the writing of the honors thesis.
Upon completion, the thesis will be evaluated and graded
by the mentor and Honors Committee member.
In addition, the results of the project will be presented
in the form of an oral presentation and/or poster presentation
to be given at one or more of public forums such as a scientific
meeting, UMBC’s annual spring Undergraduate
Research and Creative Achievement Day, the Department’s
spring GABS symposium, UMBC’s Summer Undergraduate
Research Fest, or the fall Undergraduate Research Symposium
in the Chemical and Biological Sciences.
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